Management

House GOP spending cuts are a preview of Project 2025, lead Dem appropriator says

Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., told reporters Tuesday that the major spending cuts in Republicans’ fiscal 2025 proposal to fund the departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education would have significant impacts on workers, families and students.

Workforce

The DOOBIE Act would codify federal hiring policy for former marijuana users

The bill, introduced by Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., would enshrine in law that past marijuana use cannot be the sole basis for denying federal job applicants a position or security clearance.

Pay & Benefits

Administrative law judge union to push for expanded annual carryover leave

Officials with a union that represents administrative law judges at the Social Security Administration said their jobs are more akin to those of senior-level federal jobs than General Schedule positions.

Oversight

Bill to strengthen oversight of beleaguered Bureau of Prisons is cleared for president’s signature

The Senate approved the measure by unanimous consent, following several misconduct investigations into the federal prison system.

Management

Republicans look to cull agency powers in wake of Supreme Court rulings

Agencies should adjust their postures going forward while also unwinding previous actions, lawmakers say.

Management

Senate's FY25 spending bills gain bipartisan momentum

Committee reaches bipartisan agreement to boost funding levels that lawmakers say are key to avoiding furloughs and layoffs at agencies.

Workforce

The FLRA is nearly back at full strength following Senate confirmation vote

The Senate voted 55-37 to confirm Anne Wagner as the third member atop the Federal Labor Relations Authority, allowing the agency to consider controversial cases again for the first time in more than a year.

Management

House fails to pass measure to hold attorney general in ‘inherent contempt'

House legislators on Thursday rejected a resolution to fine Attorney General Merrick Garland for withholding audio tapes from the Justice Department special counsel’s interview with President Joe Biden.

Management

House GOP defeats effort to restore SSA funding to appropriations bill

Democrats said the planned half-billion-dollar cut to the Social Security Administration’s administrative budget would bring the agency’s workforce to the lowest level in 50 years.

Pay & Benefits

A House funding bill would make recent federal firefighter pay raises permanent

The House Appropriations Committee is set to advance a spending package Tuesday that would codify recent temporary pay raises for federal wildland firefighters into law and fund them to the tune of $330 million.

Management

A US agency focused on foreign disinformation could shut down after the election

The State Department’s Global Engagement Center recently opened an anti-Russian propaganda center in Poland, but needs congressional action to continue operations.

Oversight

House GOP official bashes VA leader for ‘budgetary mismanagement’

House Veterans Affairs Committee Chairman Mike Bost’s letter to VA Secretary Denis McDonough takes the leader of the Veterans Health Administration to task over recent hiring restrictions within the department and controversial but since-rescinded bonus payments.

Workforce

Social Security in line for half-billion dollar cut in House GOP funding bill

Republican appropriators blamed “reduced in-person staffing” at headquarters to slash the already overworked and under-resourced agency’s budget.

Oversight

Why do federal employee background checks take so long? Panel points to delayed IT system

The Defense Department agency responsible for vetting workers at most federal agencies originally planned to have a new background check system fully functional in 2019.

Management

Lawmakers press VA to report on the delays in its burn pit registry revamp

An October 2022 report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine said VA should “initiate a new phase” of its Airborne Hazards and Open Burn Pit Registry to make it “a user-friendly, efficient and effective resource.”

Workforce

The House’s DHS funding bill preserves TSA’s recent pay increases

Although lawmakers have yet to act on a bill to codify the Biden administration’s decision to provide Transportation Security Administration employees with Title 5 protections and compensation, Congress is poised to continue funding the initiative.

Management

Senate bill aims to streamline how agencies respond to wildfires

Much like the workforce-focused wildfire bill introduced last week in the House, the EMBER Act draws its provisions from the recommendations of a recent bipartisan commission report.

Pay & Benefits

Biden’s 2% raise more likely upon advancement of Senate defense policy bill

The Senate Armed Services Committee last week advanced its version of the fiscal 2025 National Defense Authorization Act, endorsing a 2% average pay raise for civilian federal workers alongside a 4.5% increase for military service members.

Workforce

Dems warn of agency furloughs, layoffs if spending caps are not lifted

FBI agents, meat inspectors and others could face job cuts under the current fiscal 2025 spending plan, Democrats say.